


Getting Out, Getting Even

by NeoVenus22



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: sg_rarepairings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-21
Updated: 2010-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-07 10:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck in a cell offworld, John gets some unexpected help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Out, Getting Even

The last face John expected to see at his door was Todd's. He blinked a few times to reassure himself it wasn't a hallucination from malnutrition or something, but nope, there he was, pale, tattooed, and smirking. "You," said John, trying not to sigh.

"This is a situation we seem to find ourselves in often, Sheppard," Todd said. He sounded sort of amused. John really hated it when any Wraith sounded amused. Them having senses of humor freaked him out. "Bars between us."

"Yeah. Y'know, it'd be pretty easy to fix that..."

"Are you suggesting I came to rescue you? I hope you haven't forgotten that the last time we met in such a way, I was the one in the cage. Put there by you."

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who can kill you with a handshake." Frankly, he couldn't figure out why Todd was there at all. John had been separated from his team sometime after dark the night before, had been imprisoned by some pissy locals shortly thereafter. He'd expected Ronon or Teyla to come in like action heroes, or maybe McKay with a blowtorch or something. Cells sucked, and they sucked worse when no one even dropped by to taunt him with a 'nah-nah' and a long speech as to why he was stuck there in the first place. "Anyway, that's all water under the bridge, isn't it?"

"The Wraith are a superior race, who live for centuries and have memories going back as far. I have not forgotten the instance quite as easily as you."

John was never getting out of there.

He'd resigned himself to once again going through a mental list of possible escape plans, pressing the heel of his hand against his forehead to stave off the oncoming migraine, when he heard a zap, then a pop, then a thunk. He looked up; Todd was wielding a stunner, with a chunk of smoking metal at his feet. The door creaked open. "Let's go."

John was cautious, but not stupid. He got to his feet. "Wait, you're actually rescuing me?"

"You are more useful to me out here than in there."

"How sweet."

Todd made a little grunting sound as he started quickly down the hall. "You realize this means you once again owe me."

"What, we're keeping score?" muttered John, being especially ornery to hide his discomfort. Todd was a Wraith, and as such, John should feel absolutely no loyalty to him whatsoever, but the guy _had_ sorta saved their asses, more than once. There was some stuff in there John wasn't thrilled about, largely to do with Todd's other friends, but he'd proven to be a useful, albeit unconventional, ally. And some sick part of John found him sort of... funny. Not _funny_, but his first impulse wasn't to shoot the bastard cold, unlike every other Wraith he'd ever known.

"I came here looking for some information pertinent to my research," Todd explained. There was a lengthy enough pause that John could guess what wasn't being said. "It is likely we will have to fight our way out."

"Just great."

"You are unarmed," guessed Todd.

"Yeah, they kinda do that when they imprison you." This, John thought, would've been a seriously great time for the rest of the team to swoop in and do what they did.

"Perhaps I have overestimated your usefulness," said Todd dryly. "You would do well to stay behind me." It almost made John feel like a pet, but then it occurred to him that all this time he'd been considering Todd as 'not bad for a Wraith,' Todd was probably thinking of him as 'slightly more entertaining than your average meal.' Dinner and a show.

Of course, John had never protected any steak with quite as much dedication as Todd put towards stunning the people who were getting in the way of their escape. He didn't waste any time feeding, even though his wan face suggested he needed it. John didn't know why, but he didn't delude himself thinking the noble gesture was for his benefit.

"The exit," said Todd, whapping John's leg with his coat in his efforts to get him through the door. John appreciated that he stayed hands-free, but maybe Todd was just too distracted to attempt to kill him.

They clattered their way up a narrow, but thankfully empty, metal staircase, and out a second door, only to come face to face with his team; John at the mercy of Teyla's P-90, and Todd staring down Ronon's gun. Only one of his teammates lowered their weapon.

"'Bout time you guys showed up," he muttered.

"Where the hell were you?" demanded Rodney. "We tried radioing, but you didn't answer, and when we attempted to track you, we found your stuff, but not you."

"We are glad to see you are all right, John," said Teyla.

"Thanks. I ran into a problem with the locals," said John, gratefully accepting his vest from Teyla and putting it on. "We should get going. Ronon, leave him alone."

"I hate this guy," Ronon said.

"And I'm sure he hates you, too. But the hatefest can wait until we're through the 'gate, huh? He saved my ass back there."

"We were _trying_ to," huffed Rodney.

There was a clatter of footsteps on the staircase they had just left behind. "Can we discuss this later?" said John.

"Go," said Todd. "I will buy you the time to escape."

"We're not thinking of letting him escape again, are we?" said Rodney.

"I will consider our debt paid, Sheppard," said Todd.

"We don't make deals with Wraith," said Ronon savagely, gun still trained and likely set to kill.

John couldn't believe he was even considering this. Okay, so maybe Todd hadn't killed him in the many opportunities he'd had to do so, but that wasn't enough. He was a Wraith. A smart Wraith. A smart Wraith who knew too much.

"Come back with us," said John.

"John?"

"Colonel..."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

John ignored his team's protests. "Look, the Wraith probably aren't cool with whatever you're doing, right? And we're not cool with you running loose with knowledge of Atlantis. Come back with us, and we'll protect you. It'll be mutually beneficial."

"By 'protect' you mean you will cage me again and take me out to succeed where Dr. McKay fails."

"Oh, come on now, I've never--"

"_Rodney_." To Todd, he said, "You have information we might want. And we have resources you could use. We can work something out."

Todd took a moment to think the proposition over, time enough for John to ask himself what the hell he was thinking. "My business here is not yet concluded," said Todd finally. "Leave now, and I will meet you at the Stargate in a few minutes."

"This is ridiculous," said Rodney, but John said, "Fine. Ten minutes." And not in the mood for another firefight, he all but shoved his team in the direction of the 'gate.

"You've come up with a lot of stupid plans, but this is the worst," said Rodney.

"I'd rather have him with us than against us," said John, which wasn't the whole of it, but was the truth.

"You do not actually trust him, do you?" said Teyla.

"Not exactly."

"With good reason," said Ronon, pointing. The 'gate was activating, and John was wondering if they had time to duck and cover if they needed to, before a dart rose up from a clump of trees and soared through.

"Dammit," said John as the wormhole closed, but his heart wasn't in it. He should've seen it coming. He probably had seen it coming. There was nothing he could do about it now, except hope to God that Todd stayed off the Wraith's radar for as long as possible.

"Oh, of course," muttered Rodney, slapping their own address on the DHD. "This is going to come back and haunt us, you know. It was bad enough when he got away from us the first time, but who only knows what he's doing these days..."

John tuned the rest out, knowing it was a rant he'd plenty of times in the next twelve hours. Instead, he let his mind wander to what Todd had said. If they were even now, what was going to happen when they met again?

And John had the feeling it'd be sooner than he liked when he finally found out.


End file.
